


Five Pairs of Slippers

by Ennazul



Series: Ennazul's Freebies [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura's pyjamas are Extra(TM), Autistic Keith (Voltron), Bittersweet, Bonus Ending, Canon Compliant, Chef Hunk (Voltron), Gen, Hunk and Lance wear pyjamas everywhere to annoy the others, Insecure Keith (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is trying, Keith (Voltron) leaves the team, Keith (Voltron)-centric, Keith just wants to be loved, Lance is always late, Musicals, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Pyjamas, Shiro (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Singing in the Shower, Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), autistic author, cruel irony, curious Alteans, earth culture, movies - Freeform, no there isn't but don't tell Lance that, paladins of old, picking on Lance (Voltron), reference to Shiro's imprisonment, slice of life on board the Castle of Lions, slumber party, so are Coran's slippers, there is a duck in the castle, what do you mean this didn't happen?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-08-01 12:05:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16284311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ennazul/pseuds/Ennazul
Summary: Only five pairs of Voltron Lion slippers were ever made. There are seven people on board the Castle of Lions.Keith has questioned his place on the team since the beginning.(Set in Season 1, with spoilers up to Season 4. You need to have watched the show to keep up in this fanfic.)





	Five Pairs of Slippers

**Author's Note:**

> What's up, AO3? I've been ghosting this site for a while now, and this is my first contribution. I'm an upcoming writer testing out the waters, so kudos and constructive criticism is appreciated!
> 
> You'll see that in each of my fics I have a special paragraph of information in the notes in addition to the tags. Other than the triggers, you can mostly ignore it.
> 
> Content Maturity Rating: All  
> Reading Difficulty Rating: 13+  
> Triggers: Implied PTSD; mentions of imprisonment, death and fire  
> Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender, spoilers for Seasons 1-4  
> Universe: Canon  
> Author: Ennazul  
> Copyright: Story universe and characters belong to DreamWorks. Several plots are taken from textposts. Ennazul reserves the right to the written work only. No profit is made from this work.

* * *

All heads turned when Lance finally showed his face at their first emergency drill on board the Castle of Lions.

All heads did a double-take as they belatedly realized what he was wearing.

Somehow, in the two nights that they had been on board the Castleship, the teen had found the time to discover a cobalt robe with gold details and a matching pair of cat slippers that, judging by the square yellow eyes, represented the Blue Lion- and promptly claimed them for himself. Which was probably fair, since the outfit was likely tailored specially for the Blue Paladin (or a crazed fan). Though Keith had never been fond of bunny slippers, finding them ridiculous and a little creepy, somehow Lance made having the image of an alien weapon of mass destruction on the tips of his feet look endearing.

"Where'd you get those clothes, anyway?" Hunk whispered to Lance, leaning subtly to his side so Lance (and, by extension, Keith) could hear better, but not so much that Allura, who was busy pulling out the space map, would notice. She’d have their heads served on a stick if she thought they were disrespecting her.

Lance shrugged lazily. "They were just lying around in my closet. Figured I could put them to good use." He punctuated his sentence by tugging at the knot in the sash, tightening the robe around his skinny waist.

"Yeah, well, I found these in my closet," Hunk said, touching the hem of his banana-yellow pyjamas self-consciously, "But no gown or slippers."

"That's because I'm the awesome one," Lance proudly announced, planting his hands on his waist and lifting his chin in a superhero pose. His hands quickly snapped back to his sides, though, when Allura gave him the Look- which, as Pidge had said at some point in the past few days, was probably more capable than Voltron of making Zarkon tremble in fear.

 

Hunk did eventually find the other half of the Yellow Lion pyjama getup. They’d been hiding in the laundry room, among the heaps of washed and folded clothes that hadn't been fetched by their owners in over ten thousand years. Since Altean laundry was so efficient that it only took a few seconds to wash and dry each article, the Paladins usually took their clothes to the laundry room themselves and waited around until they were done (they had all, within the first two weeks, walked in on Lance hunkering over a space tumble dryer in nothing but his boxers), thus they never spared a second glance at the pile of patiently waiting clothes. It saddened Hunk a little to think about the past Yellow Paladin putting his gown and slippers in the laundry in preparation for a future he didn't get to live, but the thought that he was continuing said Paladin's legacy and thus keeping his memory alive cheered Hunk up a little.

After seeing the Yellow and Blue Paladins ridicule their images by wearing the absurd PJ's almost every moment of the day with no shame whatsoever, to the point where everyone just shrugged off the sight, Pidge decided to have a go at the set that she'd found and ignored in her own closet. They turned out to be designed for someone a lot taller than her, resulting in the pant legs pooling over her feet and the nightshirt reaching her knees. Thus she abandoned the pants and wore the shirt as a dress, with the gown wrapped tightly around her lithe body.

There was something a little different to Pidge's outfit as well- a quirk that she considered a pleasant discovery. Just like Pidge, her past Paladin had been resourceful and loved upgrading whatever she could get her hands on- most of the time with useful features, but sometimes just to spite others.

For example, when they had learned that Lance sang Beyoncé off-key in the showers specifically to annoy them, Pidge had modified his showerhead to switch to freezing cold water whenever it ceased detecting loud sounds. Lance had to endure many rushed showers full of terrified singing without pause, fearful that if he took a single breath his bare skin would be assaulted by icy pinpricks, until he eventually apologized and vowed to never sing in the shower again if Pidge would only remove the upgrade.

Thus Pidge, resident prankster, thoroughly enjoyed the unique property of her slippers, which prompted her to wear them whenever possible- even when she wasn't wearing her pyjamas. Her first victim happened to be Shiro.

 

The Black Paladin heard the sound echoing down the cold metal hallways of the Castle of Lions on one of the nightly walks he often took when his brain was being too loud for him to sleep. For a moment he considered he was losing his mind, as it wasn’t what you’d expect to hear, at night, in a magical castle-slash-spaceship floating through the vacuum of space. Maybe the beeping of a machine, or a disembodied voice, but definitely not…

He steeled himself in place when he heard it a second time, looking over his shoulder to make sure the source of the sound wasn't sneaking up behind him. He raised his bionic arm, which was already glowing in reaction to his stress, and stood ready to fight whatever alien had infiltrated the castle.

Because there was no way it could actually be a duck.

"Quack."

"Quack."

“Quack, quack.”

"Quack, quack."

"Quack, quack."

As the sound became more rapid, and closer, like a ridiculous version of the Jaws theme (but still scary, when you’re alone in a dark hallway in a spaceship in an alien galaxy where there definitely shouldn’t be a duck), Shiro had to admit to himself that his ears weren't deceiving him, and that the mystery intruder really was making a noise that sounded suspiciously like a bird from Earth. But it couldn't be from Earth, of course.

That’s preposterous.

Into his head popped the image of a duck waddling innocently into the Blue Lion only to get shot off into space with the rest of them, but he shook it away and prepared himself for anything to round the corner. It could be a six foot duck with razor-sharp teeth, or a bear-like creature with a bill- heck, maybe one of those ‘yell-mores’ Coran was always comparing them to; and chance was large that it had ill intent.

"Quack, quack. Quack, quack, quack quack quackquackquackquack-"

When Pidge appeared at the end of the hall, dressed in her everyday clothes outside the cosy Green Lion slippers, shuffling forward aimlessly as she remained engrossed with the screen of the laptop in her hands, Shiro only just managed to keep himself from storming her as he forcibly reminded his body, 'friend, friend, don’t hurt friend.' Still he was a breath away from yelling for Pidge to look out, since the unknown alien was in close pursuit and probably right behind her.

Pidge lifted her head, likely drawn by the purple glow. "Shiro? Are- are you okay?" she asked, voice concerned with a touch of fear.

Shiro looked at his hand, still bright-hot, and immediately felt a sour guilt build up in his throat. He lowered the hand and forced his breathing to even, and the hand turned off in response. "I'm fine," he said, trying his best to sound positive. "I just... Heard something." The sound had stopped, so he assumed it was just the silence getting at him, like it had the many times he was locked up in a dark cell with no stimulus other than the feel of the walls and the sound of his own breathing.

The corners of Pidge's mouth dug deep. "Oh. Did it maybe sound something like... this?" She walked towards him, laptop held tight.

"Quack quack quack quack quack..."

Shiro's face creased in confusion. "What is that? Is that coming from your laptop?"

"No-pe!" Pidge was full-on grinning when she stopped in front of him, and the quacking stopped as well. She then pointedly looked down at her slippers, and tapped one foot several times.

"Quack, quack, quack," the hollow, electronic-sounding animal's call rang out, in rhythm with her steps.

Pidge looked up at Shiro once more, her face shining. "My predecessor's doing. I thought about removing it, but... I dunno, it's kinda growing on me."

So many questions were tumbling around in Shiro's brain. The first one that made it to his mouth, however, was, "Why a duck?"

The smallest Paladin adjusted her glasses. "Well, according to the coding, it's supposed to be a creature called a duflax, but it does sound like a duck, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, but.... Why on lion slippers?"

Pidge raised her tiny shoulders. "Why not?"

A few seconds of silence passed between the two, in which they stared each other down.

"...I'll let you give training a miss for a week if you stalk Lance while wearing those."

"You've got yourself a deal."

 

When Shiro reiterated the story to Keith, it was one of the few times the Red Paladin actually laughed out loud and uncontrollably, stitches welling up in his belly. Unlike most times when they would participate in jokes or a game (and Keith considered it trivial and opted out or even accidentally ruined it for them) he was all in for picking on Lance and was just as careful as the rest about keeping it a secret for as long as possible.

For a full two weeks, everyone was in on the joke but Lance, and got to enjoy the Blue Paladin constantly looking over his shoulder or breaking into a sprint without warning, or conspiring in hushed tones about the 'stalker duck' that was never seen, only heard. He swore he heard it outside the door when he took a shower, under the table when they were eating, and at the front of the Command Room when they were sitting in their Paladin seats – always in a situation where he couldn’t easily go looking for it – but everyone else insisted they heard nothing. And when the joke got too much and they laughed together, Lance just assumed they didn't believe him.

Pidge had the most difficult job of them all, as she had to be careful to only walk on the balls of her feet without being too obvious when Lance was around, to avoid him making the link between the sound and her footsteps. The joke was eventually out when Lance playfully nudged Pidge with his elbow during a mission briefing, and she stumbled to regain her footing, each step letting out a squeak.

Then Lance accusingly pointed at her, finger pressed against her stubby nose. " _You're_ the duck!"

Which just started an entirely new round of laughter from the collective group.

 

Now that most of the Paladins had taken to The Ways Of The Pyjamas, having found their unnaturally comfortable sets of complimentary Paladin sleepwear and choosing to wear them even when it wasn't societally appropriate (they caught Shiro with his robe over his armour once, and refuse to let him live it down), the moment Allura announced they'd have a few quintants off, Lance insisted they had to have a slumber party.

"What is a... slumber party?" Allura asked, her face a mixture of confusion and curiosity.

Lance audibly gasped, clutching his chest dramatically. "Alteans don't have slumber parties? Oh, now it's not even a question! We're having one, stat!"

Keith rolled his eyes, knowing very well that Lance’s real reason for wanting to host a slumber party was to fulfil his fantasy of watching the princess pillow fight while wearing clothes that fell halfway between sleepwear and undies.

"You never answered my question. What is a slumber party?"

Lance opened his mouth, but Pidge explained instead. "It's a type of party on Earth where a bunch of close friends, usually adolescents, stay over at another friend's house to sleep in the same room on the floor in sleeping bags or on mattresses, and do all kinds of fun activities together. It’s like camping, except indoors."

"Yeah, and it's very good for team bonding!" Lance piped in, knowing very well that those words could easily persuade the princess to partake in or allow any ridiculous group activity.

"Oh, I see!" Allura clasped her hands together, delighted. "That sounds like a marvellous way for us to improve inter-Paladin relationships!"

"And an opportunity for us to learn more about human culture!" Coran added. “All our archives about your Planet Earth are far out of date. Tell me, Number Four, are these celebrations customarily held on certain dates of the decaphoeb, or at age milestones?"

"Actually, we hold slumber parties whenever we feel like it," Pidge answered. "You just need to leave enough preparation time to get everyone together and set up the room."

"Hmm..." the princess considered. "If I leave it to you Paladins, do you think you'd be able to set up the celebrations in time to host the slumber party tonight?"

"Totally!" Pidge said. "Since we're all here already, it'll only take a couple of minutes. Where should we hold it?"

"The lounge, duh!" Lance's gaze swept over the three remaining Paladins. "You guys haven't said anything yet. Are you in, or am I gonna have to entertain the princess by myself?"

Shiro raised his shoulders. "Sounds like fun." He smiled a bit. "I haven't had a sleepover since I was a cadet."

"And you know me, I'm always up for a party as long as there are snacks," Hunk said, petting the belly that wordlessly spoke of his love of food. "And since I don't trust any of you in the kitchen, I think I'll handle that part myself."

Everyone turned to Keith, where he was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He shrunk a bit under their gaze, unable to look up and meet it. "Whatever."

"...Is that a yes or a no?" Lance questioned. "You've gotta answer now, Mullet, or Hunk won't make you any snacks."

Shiro put his hand on Lance's shoulder. "Don't pressure him. If he wants to join, he will. But if you pick on him about it, he won't show up either way."

"So Mullet may or may not be in," Lance continued, raising his hands and shoulders in disinterest. "Fine by me. Let's get this party started, people!"

 

Keith had no clue what came over him. It was completely out of character, he was aware. But then again, the more time he spent with the other Paladins, the more he surprised himself. Their conversations didn't make him groan and wish he were alone, even when he couldn't keep up with Pidge and Hunk's tech-talk. When they picked on him, he felt no desire to raise his fists. And when they patted his shoulder after a mission, or pulled him into a group hug, or gave him a high five, he didn't flinch from the touch.

And so, he found himself sitting alone in the lounge room, a little early for the slumber party apparently (the floor enclosed by the chairs was already bundled full with blankets and pillows, so he assumed the others had built the nest-like bed first and were out the room to get changed), wearing the ruby-red pyjamas and matching lion slippers, the robe thrown over his lap, for no reason other than wanting to see the delighted expressions on the other teenaged Paladins' expressions again as they enjoyed the impromptu slumber party.

He didn't think the clothes would be comfortable, but they were. They were far softer than anything he had ever owned - a sharp contrast from his usual jeans and leather and even his cheap cotton tees - and had a cosy layer of fuzz that was either from design or many, many washes, but helped to make it snug and warm, making the robe feel so unnecessary even in view of the near constant chill of the castle interior. The slippers were perhaps half a size too small, but he didn't mind because they comfortingly exerted a constant pressure on his feet that reminded him where he was and how he stood, making it easy to stay present and not get lost in his head.

The others were taking so long he considered heading to his room and grabbing his own bedding to contribute to the nest, feeling guilty for not helping in the first place (he wasn't very acquainted with sleepovers and had originally thought they would just sleep on the couches) but just as he made up his mind and shifted his weight, the double doors slid open.

It was Allura and Coran, too busy discussing something to pay much attention to the room, or who was in it. Coran's clothes were very similar to those of the Paladins, except orange and without any golden decals, and his slippers were orange and yellow and took on the form of some strange tentacled alien with many eyes and a wide, creepy, toothed smile at the toes. Keith's first impression was that the man could mop the floor simply by dancing.

Allura's nightgown had a lot more poof to it than the others'. It was powder pink and textured with shiny layers of either fur or down, with an especially thick collar curling around her neck like the boa of a thrice-divorced gold-digger.

When the doors closed, their heads finally turned forward, eyes resting on the nest for only a few seconds before flickering up to Keith. They paled, eyes stretching, like they were seeing an atrocity that should never have existed, uncertain whether they should be scared or disgusted. _Like finding a cockroach in their bed_ , Keith’s mind not-so-helpfully supplied.

It was a look Keith had often received before, and to be subjected to it again, in a place that he was beginning to think could become home, made him shift uncomfortably. His eyes awkwardly searched through the bland room for something to focus on, and he settled for an intense staring contest with a blank continental pillow. He knew it was Pidge's only from the fact that she lugged it with her everywhere, so she could make any dark corner into a cosy hacker's den. "Um..." He clenched his hands into fists on his lap, circling his thumbs against the sides of his index fingers. It was an action that usually comforted him, in some strange unexplainable way, but felt fruitless under the stares of the two aliens. "Is... Is something wrong? Did I do something?" He quickly stood, grabbing the gown so tight he thought he might cut off the blood circulation to his fingertips. "I- I'm sorry. I'll go. I was going to leave to get some more pillows from my room, anyway."

Just as he turned, he saw the princess extend a hand out of the corner of his eye. "Keith, wait!"

He froze, and when the anxiety spiked again he kneaded the soft gown between his hands, forcing himself to breathe.

"Keith," Allura said carefully, like she was addressing a wild, spooked animal. "Don't be frightened. You didn't do anything wrong. We just did not expect..."

When she didn't finish, Keith did for her. "Didn't expect I'd want to be part of this stupid slumber party? Maybe I don't," he venomously spat without turning around. His shoulders were starting to hurt from how tense they were. "I've got better things to do anyway, so I'll just go."

"Oh, no, Number Four- it's not that at all!" Coran insisted. "We'd all love to have you participate in this Earth team bonding activity- after all, you are one fifth of the team. Voltron would be nothing without you, and neither would this sleep party."

"Slumber party," Allura corrected in a murmur that was just loud enough for Keith to overhear. A little louder, to Keith, she said, "We are very curious about this Earth custom of group sleeping as a special occasion. Seeing as the others have not arrived yet, perhaps you could enlighten us as to the rituals involved and their significance while we wait."

The Alteans really managed to make the most mundane Earth activities sound alien. But Keith supposed they were, to them. He forced himself to appear more relaxed, which only tensed his muscles even more as he forcibly kept them from scrunching up, and turned around most of the way, his body still not quite facing the Alteans. "Sorry, Allura," he shrugged. "I can't say I know much more about slumber parties than you. I've never been to one myself."

"Well that's all the more reason for you to stay," Coran announced before Keith could turn his back on them again. He twirled his moustache. "You could stick with us first-timers and we could learn the do's and don'ts about slumber parties together!"

"Why are you so insistent that I stay when you clearly don't want me here?" Keith demanded. "The moment you walked into the room you looked at me like I wasn't supposed to be here. If you want me to go, just let me go!”

Allura sighed, dipping her head slightly as she closed her eyes. Whatever she'd been trying to hide, she’d realized it was a futile attempt. "Believe us, Keith, it really was not your wrongdoing that prompted us to react so... I admit, coldly. And I truly apologize, on the behalf of both of us, from the bottom of my heart, for making it seem so." She took a deep breath through her nose as she brought her head up again, her hands folding together. "It's just that... Those clothes were my father's."

Keith's heart went missing. There was just a cold, black, empty hole in his chest. With nothing to pump the blood through his body, every limb and organ froze. "K- King Alfor piloted the Red Lion?"

No.

This was wrong.

Keith wasn't supposed to be sitting in the same place a king once sat- the Red Lion's pilot chair was practically a throne, and Keith wasn't worthy of it. Why couldn't Allura just have piloted the Red Lion? It was only right that she inherited it. Why did Red even choose him in the first place when the Lion's history should have made its standards higher than Keith could even dream to reach? What business did he, an unwanted orphan boy who picked fights with people trying to help him (look at that- he was doing it at that very moment) have, pretending he could even wear a king's shoes, let alone fill them?

He looked down at the clothes he was wearing. Yes, he'd known somewhere in the back of his mind that he was wearing a dead man's clothes, but it hadn't phased him much. But knowing just who they once belonged to, and what heartbroken memories they'd rouse in the Alteans... He kicked off the slippers and stared at them like he thought they might bite him. "Wh- what, we... I... I thought he was the Black Paladin?"

"What in Oriand's Sky gave you that impression?" Coran asked, voice torn between surprise and disbelief, which Keith's mind near mirrored. Alfor was a king, and a king was a leader, and the Black Paladin was a leader- it only made sense! It was unquestionable- or had been until that moment. It hadn't felt wrong to let Shiro - the eldest and calmest and most experienced - lead the universe's greatest weapon, taking on the role once played by a king. But the thought that it was Keith taking a king's place... it made him sick to his stomach.

Allura's hand drifted to Coran's arm, steadying him with the soothing gesture, before she explained, more calmly than Coran could at that moment. "It is true that both the Black and the Red Lions were willing to accept him as their Paladin. However he was aware of his own limitations, particularly in leadership and strategizing while under pressure, and felt he was far more suited to the hand of action than the mind or heart. Thus he was willing to step down to the position of right hand to whom he knew was and trusted to always be a better leader than himself. Thus he became the Red Paladin, and that he remained until his death. In his final fight, he considered taking the position of Black Paladin, but ultimately decided against it and chose to send the Lions away instead."

Keith's throat was dry. "I... I thought something was off when everyone found their sets in their closet or the laundry. I found them a few floors up while I was exploring... In a massive bedroom... Folded up on the bed..."

Both Alteans' expressions creased in pain at that. Allura's hand even shot to her heart.

Keith was really beginning to feel cold. The thought that he had stolen - yes, the correct word was /stolen/ - from a room that had remained sealed and untouched for ten thousand years, the preserved breath of the now dead thinning out at his opening of the door, his actions unknowingly destroying what little of Alfor the two Alteans had left, made a deep feeling of dread settle in his bones. This was the type of thing ghosts killed people over in movies- for stealing their prized possessions, mocking them by seizing ownership over something they could no longer hold, and pretending like they were anywhere near as worthy to take their place. It wasn't that Keith believed in ghosts (though he supposed there were a lot of things that he probably should believe in, now that he knew aliens and magic existed); but that he knew he had disrespected the dead. "I shouldn't be wearing these," he murmured shamefully, looking down his body. "They- they don't belong to me." He raised his head to meet Allura's eye. "They belong to you."

A pained smile crossed the princess' face. "I wish I could say that you may keep them," she softly said. "But my selfish heart prompts me to beg to take them back. I have so little of my father left, after I was forced to shatter his memory pod, that I could not bear with sacrificing more."

Keith nodded in understanding, his eyes drifting back to the slippers. "I know what it's like to lose your last bit of family," he murmured. His mind brought up images he didn't want to remember- thick smoke; bright, flickering light all around, hurting his eyes; searing heat closing in on him; a panic that rooted him to the ground; everything with a bit of memory contained within it going up in flames, the fire not sparing him any kindness by leaving him so much as a photo of his father...

He shook himself out of it, knowing very well that if he thought too long of it, he'd start smelling smoke- a scent which still sent his heart palpitating. It was terribly ironic that he was the Guardian of Fire- the very element that had ripped his remaining family from him, and the only element that anyone could possibly hate.

It took a few seconds to focus on the Alteans again, instead of the present being blurred by a lens of the past. Allura's face was still contorted in pain, brows high but furrowed. "I can't even begin to imagine what it's like to lose them twice," Keith continued. "If you'd feel better to keep these safe yourself, then I won't argue. I'll find something else to wear." He abandoned the slippers and robe in the lounge, and quickly hunted through the laundry room for another set of nightclothes.

 

When the other Paladins arrived in the room, dressed in their pyjamas, they found Keith wearing the black shirt he wore every day, along with baggy grey tracksuit pants and a pair of thick socks to keep his feet warm. He got teased for being 'too emo to wear anything with colour,' and he forced a smile at Allura, who kept glancing at him in concern and appeared one tease away from stepping in and defending the boy. Nobody asked why she was wearing the Red Lion slippers, although Lance at one point offered his own slippers to the Princess to wear instead, which she politely refused.

Shiro was wearing grey Paladin pyjamas with the ink-black robe with gold edging over it, but in a sharp contrast his feet were swallowed by a fluffy dark purple alien as strange as Coran's octopus-feet. "I couldn't find my slippers," he explained with a smile. "So Coran let me borrow a pair of his."

Coran wrapped an arm around Shiro's shoulder, pulling Shiro down at an uncomfortable angle since the Altean was slightly shorter than him. "Yes, the two of us are twins for the night, I should say!" he announced cheerfully.

Allura, however, bore a stiff smile. "Yes, as with your Bayard, the slippers were lost with the previous Black Paladin."

The tense atmosphere was broken by Hunk - precious Hunk, bless his pure soul - calling everyone to the food. Somehow in the half hour between learning about the sleepover and it actually starting, he had whipped up four different dishes of finger snacks using ingredients left over from their stay on planet Arus, and though they were meant to be eaten throughout the night they were just too delicious, causing the dishes to be almost cleared in a single sitting. Hunk practically glowed under the praise after pleasing both human and alien palettes, and shrugged his creations off as nothing much. Then followed the real celebrations.

Keith didn't think real slumber parties would be so alike to the ones in movies, but either that was the only thing TV ever got right or the Paladins were all mocking pop media, because the night was full of blanket forts, pillow fights, wrestling and group games like Truth or Dare and Paranoia. Pidge started encouraging them to play Lions by whooshing their slippers through the air like tiny ships, and at one point Shiro wore the left yellow slipper and the right blue slipper on his feet while a green and red slipper was on either hand, and he pretended to be Voltron, daring the others to try to take him down- which was very difficult seeing as the man was built like a brick wall and not even their collective forces could knock him over. Allura and Coran were delighted at how the activities seamlessly involved team bonding and strategy, and insisted that they should hold slumber parties as often as human society considered appropriate- which prompted all the humans to cover Lance's mouth with their hands to keep from getting their designated sleep chambers shifted to the lounge permanently.

When they were all too tired to move, but their brains were still buzzing, Coran put an Altean movie on the big screen, and when the title popped up Allura groaned and begged for anything else while Coran argued that it was an unmissable classic that the Paladins had to see for the sake of their cultural education. It turned out to be an alien counterpart of a The Sound of Music and My Fair Lady fusion, and Lance had quickly memorized each song's lyrics so he could belt them out tunelessly alongside Coran by the time they reached Part Two. The two noisemakers were the first to pass out, their hyperactivity getting the best of them. Allura fell asleep shortly after switching to a different movie about two Altean prisoners escaping a ship only to have their pod crash into a mythical planet of riches, where the natives mistook them for their gods. Unlike Keith, who was grabbed by the interesting storyline, Pidge, Hunk and Shiro called it 'too familiar,' got bored quickly, and passed out soon after.

Keith was sitting a few feet away from the snoring bundle that was the collective mass of sleeping Castle residents. He couldn't imagine it was comfortable to be splayed out, tangled and hooked around five different people, as Lance had somehow managed. Yet despite how the closeness and angles made Keith shudder, there was also something unspeakably _right_ about the arrangement. Whoever thought that could be said about four humans and two Alteans asleep at a slumber party?

He picked up one of the blankets that had been put aside for the party, shook it open, and draped it over them as best as he could without covering somebody's face. His eyes drifted down to where their feet poked out - orange, red, purple, blue, yellow and green - and he couldn't help feeling a little left out as he grabbed his own blanket and made himself comfortable a few feet away, on his own.

 

When Keith looked back at his friends, at his found family, one last time before officially joining the Blade of Marmora, and he saw them all clinging together and weeping as they watched him leave, he was reminded of that slumber party from many months before.

Keith knew from the beginning that Allura would take his place on Team Voltron.

* * *

  _Bonus:_

An unfortunate Galra soldier, born into the ranks of Zarkon's army with little choice as to his future, was walking the line between life and death. He was stationed in the throne room so that he stood almost opposite the aged Galra emperor, and thus under the highest scrutiny. One slip-up - one sign of disrespect towards their great leader - and he'd likely suffer a painful death by the hands of the Druids, if Zarkon didn't just order the other guards to behead him on the spot.

Thus, for the sake of his neck, he had to make sure he didn't laugh.

But it was very hard to take things seriously when the terror of the Galra empire, eyes glowing purple from an overdose of quintessence, dressed in armour the colours of blood and the void, seated on the throne he'd kept for over ten thousand years, was nonchalantly wearing a pair of black lion slippers.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this fic, check out the rest of my work- it's all in the same series under my name for your convenience. Just click Next Work and you're on your way.
> 
> Next up in the series is another Keith-centric fic (I can't help myself- if it's a socially awkward and misunderstood emo with family issues, I will adopt them), featuring Space Dad. Check out I dub thee... Space Dad if you haven't already.
> 
> Edit: I've also added a Pidge-centric fic to the series, called The Unexpected Space Mom, as well as Kleptomania, a Keith-focused 5+1 fic. Check it out if you haven't already!


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